Monday... But I know what the truth is.

It is so easy for us to know what the truth is and of course we need to share it. Oh, no, I'm not wrong, I know the truth.

Proverbs 18:2 (NIV) says, "Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions." The Message says, "Fools care nothing for thoughtful discourse; all they do is run off at the mouth."

Now there are many truths in life that are true but we have to believe them in faith. And no way would a smart person believe them.

Here is a story that is found in Matthew 1 that a smart person in no way would believe. They are too smart to believe it.

It starts in verse 18 (NLT). It says, "This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit."

Verse 19, "Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man" Did you know that even righteous people can jump to conclusions and share their opinions on the internet? "and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly." Now that shows that he was an honorable man and that he loved her. But he was confused. And he knew what his family and all other deeply righteous people would think. But he loved her and wanted to protect her even though it seemed that she had not been faithful. So many times when we believe we are right we can be so cruel. This is where truth and grace hit head on.

Verses 20-21, "As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. 'Joseph, son of David,' the angels said, ' do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.'"

A very interesting situation, isn't it? "Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions."

Psalm 138:6 says, "Though the Lord is great, he cares for the humble, but he keeps his distance from the proud."

Let's be careful in our opinions when we don't know the whole truth. Any time we point our finger at someone there are three fingers that are pointed back at us.

Now the NT in the Bible is so important but so is the OT. I have just spent some time in reading Isaiah where the prophet gave some clues as to what was going to happen. The first part of Matthew shows the link of the OT to the NT. We need to know the whole story. It is so easy for us to jump to our own conclusions without really knowing what is really happening.

There are going to be some opportunities for us during this season to share our opinions. Yes we do have truths that we live by but God also wants us to show our love for others who may not know what we know and who need our grace.

Listen, God knew what he was doing when he connected Joseph and Mary together. He really did. You see, Joseph was connect to David. That was prophesied. And he was a man who loved God and his future wife and he was opened to what was prophesied.

An angel in the night said to Joseph in verse 22-23, "All of this occured to fulfill the Lord's message through his prophet: 'Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and the will call him Immanuel, (Isa. 7:14; 8:8, 10) which means, '"God with us"'"

Verse 24, "When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus."

Listen, we must live by truth but we also need to live with grace. We may not know the whole story. So let's be careful in sharing our opinions as the whole truth. Yes, Yes! #todaysbeginning

Thursday... Maybe we need this word today.

Psalm 57:1b (NIRV), "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Thursday... Maybe we need this word today. There are words in life that give us confidence no matter what we are facing. Now we have to believe them in order for them to have an impact. David wrote Psalm 57 while he was in a cave hiding from Saul who wanted to kill him and he says in the last part of verse 1, "There I will stay." It was a safe place and Saul didn't know that he was there. But he doesn't stop there. With confidence he said, "There I will stay until." And until is definitely a word of faith and confidence. "There I will stay until the danger is gone." Do we need that today? Let me give you the whole verse. In verse 1 David says, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." And that is a great place to start in times of trouble. Maybe that is what we need to pray today, "Have mercy on me, God. Have mercy on me." It is so great to have someone...

Tuesday... We just have trouble listening.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." Tuesday... We just have trouble listening. Over in Jeremiah 25:4 (NLT) it says, "Again and again the LORD has sent you his servants, the prophets, but you have not listened or even paid attention." And Jeremiah went on to tell what was going to happen. There will be consequences if we do not listen to what God says through his Word. Now the Apostle Paul over in 1 Corinthians was having a problem with some professed Christ followers who were having trouble at listening. And we too can have problems at listening. We can think that being a Christ follower means we do a lot of finger pointing and we give up on people who don't do what we say. We can even do that in our families. But Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 13:7 (NLT), "Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." In verse ...

Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute.

Proverbs 19:2 (NLT), "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." Friday... It is so exciting but wait a minute. This time of the year is so exciting. We get our paycheck from work and then we head to the store or Amazon and buy and buy and buy all those presents and then our check is gone Proverbs 19:2 (NLT) says, "Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes." But buying gifts can be so much fun and seeing how happy they are when opening those presents makes us feel so good. But then verse 3 says, "People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then they are angry at the Lord." Now for some that is their life. They get money and they spend it on their wants with no thought of what needs to be paid. An important lesson that we have learned is just because you have money in the bank doesn't mean you must spend it. But our enthusiasm takes over. But the problem is when it is gone and there is no money to pay th...

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